I agree that effectively kidnapping the kids is so very wrong, but my memory is that both she and the girls (maybe not all of the - can't remember too clearly) made allegations of abuse against the father . If that's the case and I were in that situation, there is not a court, law or police officer on the planet that would stop me from doing exactly the same thing as she did. I would be seeing this as another hurdle and would be off planning how I could do it again, only do it better next time.

Having said that, I agree with Bloom that the mother could have done so much more for her children's sake. I get that she was distraught herself, but she's a mother. Put your kids first. As for them being so distressed at going back, yes they were but I am also wary of how much coaching has potentially been going on. It also disturbs me that the mother says she has no intention of returning to Italy at this point.

I'm very divided on this. If the allegations made are true, then I feel terribly sorry for the girls and their mother. A truly awful situation to be returned to. If it is as I suspect though, then I feel so very sorry for their father and his family. I also feel sorry for the girls because I feel there is a huge level of manipulation going on. What's hard is that it may be entirely impossible for anyone outside of the mother, father and four kids to know what the truth is, so could be very difficult for the right decision to ultimately be made.